Closer Sergio Romo logs his third 1-2-3 save to start the season - but he credits the starters.

Closer Sergio Romo logs his third 1-2-3 save to start the season - but he credits the starters.

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

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Hunter Pence catches a ball hit by Carlos Beltran for the first out in the ninth inning. The San Francisco Giants played the St. Louis Cardinals in their 2013 home opener at AT&T Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Friday, April 5, 2013. less

Hunter Pence catches a ball hit by Carlos Beltran for the first out in the ninth inning. The San Francisco Giants played the St. Louis Cardinals in their 2013 home opener at AT&T Park in San Francisco, ... more

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

Giants beat Cardinals 1-0 in home opener

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Rain or shine, nothing changes for the Giants. To win, they need to pitch.

They pitched like crazy against the Cardinals in the final three games of the 2012 National League Championship Series, which ended with Sergio Romo saving Game 7 in a deluge.

With 15 of the same 16 position players on the field Friday, the Giants pitched like crazy again and beat St. Louis 1-0 in their home opener.

The only difference, beyond the significantly lower stakes, was Romo finishing the Cardinals under blue skies.

Four games into the season, the Giants' starters are carrying the load. With Barry Zito adding seven innings of three-hit ball against St. Louis, the rotation has pitched 26 innings to open 2013 without allowing an earned run.

"The starters have been unreal," Romo said after earning his third 1-2-3 save in three tries. "They have the reputations they have of being high-quality, big-league pitchers for a reason. What a way to start the season, the four starts we've gotten to this point, and Vogey is our fifth starter. That seems to be an extreme luxury."

Ryan Vogelsong surely will feel compelled to continue the streak when he completes the first turn through the rotation Saturday, not merely because of the great internal rivalry. Beyond that, Giants hitters have started slowly. Run support is tough to come by.

The Giants scored their run Friday on Jake Westbrook's bases-loaded walk of Angel Pagan in the fourth inning, after perennial Gold Glove catcher Yadier Molina muffed a Zito sacrifice bunt for an error that loaded the bases.

The Giants stranded 11 men. They have totaled nine runs in four games and have one hit in 16 at-bats with runners in scoring position: Joaquin Arias' RBI single in Los Angeles on Tuesday night.

But they have pitched and played good defense, as they did in winning the World Series, with the rotation shifting seamlessly from October to April.

In 11 games dating to Game 5 of the NLCS, Giants starters have allowed five runs over 71 2/3 innings, a 0.63 ERA. That run began with Zito's season-saving shutout work for 7 2/3 innings at Busch Stadium.

"It's unbelievable that we've played four games and the starters haven't given up an earned run," he said. "We can't expect that all the time, but it's a credit to how good they are and how they've pitched. They're the reason why we're 3-1."

The Giants ended 2012 with wins in Zito's final 14 starts and made it 15 in a row after Friday's banner-raising. He started the game throwing three balls to Jon Jay before allowing a 3-2 single. Zito also walked Matt Holliday with two outs before Allen Craig hit a hard out to third.

"The most impressive thing was him being able to keep his composure with all the excitement around, and still going through his normal routine," catcher Buster Posey said. "He got better as the game went on. I'm sure he was amped up and excited at the start."

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